Herman Jaeger, 74

Founded Realty Firm

Before he came to Chicago, learned English and founded a real estate firm, Herman Jaeger had to fight for survival as a forced laborer in German concentration camps.

Mr. Jaeger, who was forced to build V-1 and V-2 rockets for the German army before being liberated in 1945, died Saturday in Vencor Hospital-Lake Shore in Chicago after a five-month battle with complications from heart surgery.

A Czechoslovakian Jew, Mr. Jaeger lived in the hills near the Hungary border until 1944, when his family was rounded up and placed in concentration camps, said his son Jerry.

Mr. Jaeger met the woman who would become his wife, Rose, in a displaced-persons camp in Germany after the concentration camps were liberated.

"He was in a line waiting for a meal, and my mom kept staring at him and asked if he had any sisters," Jerry Jaeger said. "She said there was a girl in the barracks that looked like him, so they walked back, and sure enough, it was my aunt."

Mr. Jaeger was a supporter of organizations focusing on Jewish life and culture, including the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum and Congregation B'nai Tikvah in Deerfield. But he rarely talked about his experience during the war.

"It was very difficult for him," his son said. "He was a very special person. He always had a smile on his face."

Mr. Jaeger became a cabdriver shortly after coming to Chicago with his wife in 1949. In 1960, after years of working 12 to 15 hours a day, he became a real estate agent and started the commercial real estate firm Jaeger & Jaeger in 1970.

Other survivors include a son, Joseph; a daughter, Helen Jaeger-Roth; and five grandchildren.

A funeral will be at 1 p.m. Monday in Congregation B'nai Tikvah, 1558 Wilmot Rd., Deerfield.